Collaging and Prompts — Author Interview with Jose Hernandez Diaz

Poet Jose Hernandez Diaz’s first book of prose poetry, titled The Fire Eater, came out in February 2020. Born in Anaheim, CA, he holds degrees in English and creative writing from the University of California, Berkeley, and Antioch University Los Angeles. While at Antioch, he served as the poetry editor for Lunch Ticket.

Both his poetry and prose poetry have been published in more than sixty magazines, including The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Green Mountains Review, Huizache, The Journal, Los Angeles Review, Gigantic Sequins, Parcel, New American Writing, Pleiades, The Progressive, Rattle, Whiskey Island, and Witness. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2017. Diaz currently works with Palette Poetry and Frontier Poetry.

Here, Jose Jernandez Diaz lets us peer into his creative processes, from following his pen to his experience leading workshops, ending with advice for writers, so stay tuned!

EP: I think the way that you're redefining genres is incredible. And I'm wondering how you navigated into prose poetry and what originally drew you to it.

JHD: Yeah, initially when I started writing poetry, I was into beat poetry and was in my 20s — Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Baraka — and also political poetry, poetry of the Chicano Renaissance, the 60s 70s countercultural movements. So I was mostly into personal political linear verse.

I was not familiar with prose poetry at that time, and I was mostly reading poets of color. And at the time I was against reading white male poets because of the way they had dominated the canon for centuries. But then I ran across a James Tate Selected Works at the library, and the cover spoke to me. I opened up the book, and I noticed there were no line breaks. It looked like you know, short stories and went to the end of the page.

I started reading some, and it just spoke to me… it was unique. It had this deadpan surreal humor and absurdism that I hadn’t really seen before. And so I just thought it was amazing, and I didn't realize that you could write prose poems without line breaks. I started studying the form more and discovered Great Gonzalez. Madrasa de Jour, just so many prose poets, and I noticed how it was sort of a venue for being subversive and it had sort of this quirky persona that you could incorporate into your work. And so I just started writing my own after reading so many. Giving it a try. It was not as intimidating because there were no line breaks and you just kept writing until the end of the page. 

And I started submitting them and getting them published and next thing you know, I had a chapbook of prose poems that I published … now I have a couple of full-lengths on the way. 

EP: That's so exciting. You mentioned before that you have Chapbooks in the making, and I was wondering what your writing process looks like.

JHD: When I started, it was more just paying attention to what the masters were doing. When I was reading, I noticed it was more of a domestic surrealism in everyday situations — at the fair, at the park, or at the grocery store. And that was fascinating to me. And so, initially, I was just discovering and trying to follow the pen. Later on as I became more known for prose poetry… I started holding workshops for prose poetry. I write prompts for my workshops and respond to them. So, lately, it's been mostly working from prompts and, and producing new work at the same time while teaching and generating prompts for my workshops. 

EP: I was wondering what your opinion is on formulating a crafting or writing environment that's collaborative and feels like a safe space. Do you have any advice for writers wanting to create a space for themselves?

JHD: I tend to write alone. I write at the library or I write at my desk early in the morning before there's any noise or distractions. 

But as far as my workshops, they're always open and non-judgmental and safe spaces. Of course, with any workshop, I think that's essential so that writers can feel open and creative and vulnerable and, and everything that you want to feel when you get into creative juices going. 

EP: I noticed that in a lot of your poems, there’s a lot of Mexican tradition and culture, Incorporated, and I was wondering how you navigate identity in your work, and what that means to you.

JHD: It's tricky because initially when I was writing my linear verse, it tended to be, Odes to Family, Odes to Pan Dulce, to find those odes to Mexican imagery and everyday objects…jaguars in southern Mexico … so it was very, you know, based on imagery and, and cultural references. 

And then I started doing surrealism and absurdism where it wasn't really about the individual or the politics or the agenda, it was more about the spiritual. Isolation… mixing the broken and the absurd.

But lately, I've been sort of mixing everything together. Not really intentionally… but I've been moving on. I get in different writing zones and in terms of my interests, I am always sort of evolving and adapting, but also going back sometimes — it's a mixed bag. I follow the pen… the line, the image, the title, and improvise. You read so many poems and eventually sharpen your instincts, then you go back and edit them.

It's important to me to have these images of Mexican culture. I was born here in America, but my parents are from Mexico. I was always sort of influenced by that just sort of collage-like experience that is Southern California, and sort of mixing identities together. You know, I could have a prose poem about surfing. While I could also have a prose poem about cruising and listening to Chicano Batman, so I don't pigeonhole myself. I'm open to various, you know, experiences that I've had growing up and different influences artistic and musically and, and things that are great as well.

EP: I also really enjoyed how you know in your poems, there's a powerful family theme, for example in your chapbook the dedication is for your parents. I was wondering how you think your family has influenced your writing style or your writing process.

In Mexican American culture, family is basically the most important aspect of your life, and everything is centered around it.

 Also just being first generation. You know, even if I get published in Yale Review or Southern review, or  American Poetry Review, ultimately it was because my parents came over here and sacrificed and crossed a dangerous desert… so no matter what I do, it's always gonna be dedicated to them. 

My first one I always said was going to be dedicated to my parents, and every other book was gonna be dedicated to them, but also like my second one Bad Mexican, Better American is also going to be dedicated to my English teacher, Mrs. Weir, who introduced me to writing. 

She helped in finding my voice and, and it really encouraged me as a young person… who before that was getting suspended and getting C's… to then to go to community college and then transfer to UC Berkeley. So I don't think any of this would have happened without my parents, or my English teacher, Mrs. Weir, who I am still in contact with today.

EP: That's so inspiring. I feel like for a lot of youth, it's really important to have a strong mentor figure.

JHD: Definitely. And especially being a Mexican American male, I never saw any teachers that looked like me. Through the elementary school and high school processes, I only had white teachers. So that teacher really instilled confidence in me, you know, and even then, it was still hard for me to picture myself as an educator even after having writing credentials and publications. 

EP: Speaking of influential figures, I was wondering how you keep track of memories and thoughts when pulling for inspiration.

JHD: Yeah, the past is always a good source of inspiration. I met a lot of people, was into underground music, painting, and graffiti culture from Southern California. So all these things shaped me. These diverse ranges of experience. The past is always relevant. Childhood is always something that we pull from. Even the stories and the sacrifices that our families pass down to us. It’s always influential and inspirational.

EP: When do you know to end or close a poem? 

JHD: It's hard to know when… it's sort of an intuitive thing. It just feels like you've addressed everything you needed to in a condensed manner. You just feel it. 

And then you will go back and edit it…make it smoother, take something out or add something in terms of specificity of imagery here or there. Something that is more impactful. 

EP: What advice would you give to young or emerging writers?

JHD: I think with writing, there's a lot of patience involved. We want to get published. I always sort of compare it to boxing or ballet. 

Like, if you start boxing, you don't want to necessarily get in the ring, the main stage of Las Vegas in your first year. It might take a while to master the techniques and the art of it. That's how writing is. It takes years of discipline, but also if you're passionate about it. It's discipline and it's hard work, but it should also be very enjoyable. I would probably do this, even if it wasn't a career. 

Just read a lot. You know, before you can write and publish, you have to read, pay attention to lineation, to form, to voice. Read people like you and read different people. Read articles, poetry, and translation. 

I always tell people that I was getting frustrated with my lack of publishing in 2014 I took a year off from graduate school, and I just started going to the library. I read 100 books that year. I was just in my room reading all weekend and that's when I started to pick up the form at a subconscious level… the poems just came out. 

I just encourage people to read as much as they can… and try to have thick skin. And yeah, I guess that's the main thing. 

Hopefully, it'll pay off in a few years… my manuscripts were in the process of submission for five years before they got picked up. And that's just me, personally. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it's longer. It is a fine art, you know, and it does require time and patience. Don't isolate yourself — go to readings, make connections with people, and share your writing. 

EP: Thank you so much.

JHD: My pleasure.